Like many of his peers, the ambition of then 12-year-old Joba , a resident of Ilesa, Osun State, was to become a famous footballer. He also worked hard towards achieving the dream.
The boy was being raised by his dad whose name was given only as Mr Adetoye. His father, a peasant farmer, was also said to be struggling with ill health. Joba, undeterred by his family’s situation, was determined to use football to rescue his father from poverty. He trained hard and also concentrated on his studies as a Junior Secondary School 1 pupil of a public school in Ilesa.
He was subsequently arrested alongside his father and arraigned in court for manslaughter, an offence having life imprisonment as penalty. He was, upon arraignment, remanded in the Juvenile Correctional Centre since he was a minor and couldn’t be sent to prison. His dad was however freed by the court. For two years, Joba’s freedom was curtailed.
Olaboopo said, “Joba was about 12 years old in 2018, when the incident that brought him to the correctional centre happened in Ilesa. The father was owing house rent of about N9,000 and the matter degenerated into a fight between him and the landlord. “At a point, I got fed up and didn’t know what to do again. I then went to the First Lady, Mrs Kafayat Oyetola and discussed the matter with her. She got interested and joined the struggle to free the boy. Her involvement assisted us a lot and I met officials of the Ministry of Justice. Paper work was completed and negotiations with the family of the deceased also took some time before we could come to agreement.
“This is because the case involving the boy attracts heavy punishment. If he had not been rescued, he would have spent his entire life in the centre. Intervention of the First Lady, Mrs Kafayat Oyetola, really assisted us.” “While staying at the juvenile home, he was not going to school because the law does not permit that. We tutored him in- house. As we speak now, he has a state scholarship. As soon as schools resume, he will sit the JSS 3 examinations. He has been given admission to Unity School in Osogbo. We are going to pay close attention to him.
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